Although we may view our celebration of Memorial Day as the unofficial start of summer, we need to appreciate that our remembrance of Memorial Day signifies that our society does not forget those who have given life and limb so that our culture cannot just sustain but grow in respect for all humanity.
The hardest thing for people to do is authentically forgive others of wrong doings. Whether real or perceived wrongs, if as a culture we can forgive as a key step to kindling relationships we would grow closer and more respectful of each and every member of society.
Culture is far more than food, drink, dress, and special customs. These are definitely part of our culture, but we must look deep inside ourselves to find our true nature and culture. For our culture includes how we look at and support the people and relationships of our world. To understand culture, we must understand each other. Our strengths, our weaknesses and everything in between.
When we look at our current society, we can either see goodness or identify areas where we have potential for growth to be even better. To appreciate the opportunities for improvement we cannot try to change or discard our past. We must learn from it by preserving it and then building better practices upon our history rather than tossing it aside and thinking it never happened.
The tapestry of culture which makes up our society is something we must celebrate. The diversity of all the various elements of different people, languages and customs become alive in our celebrations where each one stands alone but together in an all-encompassing society of goodness.
In a society where phones are just an extension of a person’s hand and messaging is a language of speaking all onto itself, we as humankind need to press pause on the technology button and go and have a meaningful, face to face verbal conversation with those around us. As the word friend has moved from being a noun to being a verb, so too will we lose the word relationship to become something of a remote idea of two people interacting and not experience the genuineness of emotional support.
Social media is all the rage these days on both personal and business levels. People flock to stay up on the most recent post or gossip the technology channels push forward. The level of instant distraction immediately supports the need for instant gratification of know the most recent piece of information even if it is not that meaningful. This vicious cycle of teasing into the addictive realm of instant data for self-gratification is destroying one sense of self-worth. It is as if science fiction has finally become real in that the information need has synthesized with the human brain.
If we pause for a moment and reflect on the renaissance period in history, we will find that the culture grew at exceptional rates. It grew out of the innovation of its time. These innovations were not just the sciences of the period but equally the arts. This blend and balance between the technical and the creative is what propelled the society of the time to achieve great things. It is time for our culture to revive the balance of art and science for the productive good of mankind.
Our world is bombarded with lots of noise. Fragments of information of which many are not connected to anything. The speed and accessibility to all this chatter allows for it to seep into our consciousness and begin to live there without us even knowing it. This uncontrolled, unfiltered noise attack is causing our culture to lose its hearing and simply process off the rhythm of the noise. It is time to stop and listen to what is real and valuable and what is distracting and misleading our culture.
Leaders from all walks of life have the unique responsibility and accountability for the environments in which their people participate and potentially thrive in. By defining the expectations of the environment to be mutually supportive for the purpose and the people, a leader through actions crafts an environment in which their teams excel.